Weddings are a lot. It doesn’t seem to matter who you are. If you’re in the wedding party or just a guest viewing the festivities, the event can wipe you out. Preparations start well before the big event with picking out outfits, hair, makeup and more. But when you’re little, you have someone else to handle that for you, though it’s all still very tiring.
One tiny flower girl found herself a little too tuckered out to perform her duties. 1-year-old Charlotte Rose only had napping on her mind when it was time for her big moment to sprinkle flower petals down the aisle. Instead of the toddler’s nap being interrupted so she could complete her flower girl duties, her three cousins saved the day by letting her sleep.
In the video, you see the flower bros take over. The three men were supposed to walk behind the toddler during the ceremony as she did her official duties, instead, she snoozed on one of their shoulders as they walked down the aisle. The other two men trailed the one holding Charlotte and threw the flower petals with pizazz after donning their shades.
The moment was magical and adorably sweet while a strings version of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams played in the background. People in the comments also agreed that the entire thing was adorable.
“Her security did a phenomenal job, assisting her,” one person says.
“She didn’t want anyone to feel sad for outshining everyone,” a commenter writes.
“I love that the flower girl is still part of the entourage,” someone gushes.
In the United States, dozens of music festivals take place every year that give concertgoers the opportunity to discover new artists. To name just a few, thereâs Pitchfork Music Festival and SXSW for indie music, Something In The Water and Essence Music Festival for R&B, Rolling Loud and Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival for hip-hop, and Ultra and Electric Forest for EDM. These US festivals have hundreds of thousands of people flocking to their grounds to collectively lose it to their favorite artists and find their next musical obsession. But one isolated festival has positioned itself as the leader in music discovery of all genres for years now, and theyâre on a mission to close the gender lineup gap while theyâre at it: Iceland Airwaves.
Identifying as the âworldâs most northerly music showcase and industry festival,â Iceland Airwaves brings emerging artists from all across the world (Iceland included, of course) the weekend of November 2 through November 4 2023 to play their music to a diverse and international crowd. Much like SXSW, Iceland Airwaves doesnât exist in one venue alone. Instead, the four-day spectacular is spread out all across the city of ReykjavĂk, allowing concertgoers a range of experiences from an intimate set in a cathedral to a full-blown rager in a massive concert hall.
Here are the acts you donât want to miss at Iceland Airwaves 2023:
Andy Shauf
This Canadian indie mainstay has been releasing lush and tender music since 2009, with his latest being the excellent 2023 LP Norm. While his 2020 release The Neon Skyline was more conceptual, Norm takes listeners on a journey through the artistâs many little epiphanies about love and snapshots of human connection.
Blondshell
Blondshell is one of 2023âs biggest indie breakouts. The LA-based artist uses music to transmute angst about toxic relationships and the instability of early adulthood, all while paying homage to grungy early aughts with blown-out guitars, thundering power chords, and even a song dedicated to the cult favorite TV show Veronica Mars.
Squid
British quintet Squid are sure to bring the noise to ReykjavĂk this year. With their latest project O Monolith, Squidâs palpable energy manages to be both noisy and melodic. Throughout eight songs, Squid takes listeners on a disorienting journey, with much of their music starting slow before the band launches into a full-on frenzy of sound. With Squid, itâs safe to say listeners should expect the unexpected.
Anjimile
This Boston-by-way-of-Texas artist has gone from indie breakout to consistent favorite since dropping his 2020 debut Giver Taker. On the heels of his sophomore album The King, which dropped in September, Anjimile explores and reflects on his identity through music. Moving fluidly from tender and quiet to rageful and raucous, Anjimileâs boundless sound pushes the boundaries of folk rock.
JFDR
JFDR is the project of Icelandic singer-songwriter, JĂłfrĂĂ°ur ĂkadĂłttir. her wistful approach to music goes from moody to reflective, creating music thatâs, in her words, âabout clearing and healing; like breathing fresh strong air through your old self.â Her music has already inspired many, including Björk, who cites her as an inspiration.
DaĂ°i Freyr
DaĂ°i Freyr is another Iceland musician taking the stage at the festival this year, though he now resides in Berlin. Freyr burst onto the international music scene when he represented Iceland in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest with the track â10 Years,â which impressively finished in fourth place. Since then, Freyr has been honing his feel-good music, continuing to release upbeat synth-forward music with his latest album I Made An Album thatâs sure to be a blast to year in a live setting.
Balming Tiger
Alternative K-pop group Balming Tiger is a genre-blending group known for their tangible energy, cutting-edge sound, and awe-inspiring stage presence. Together, they fuse elements of punk, hip-hop, and synthy pop as heard on their just-released debut LP January Never Dies. They also have a collaboration with BTSâ RM, âSexy Nukim,â which gives a taste of their swaggering, feel-good sound.
Gaidaa
Dutch-Sudanese R&B/Soul artist Gaidaa isnât one to miss at Iceland Airwaves. Hailing from The Netherlands, Gaidaaâs music is characterized by powerful emotion she pours into each one of her songs. Mixing honeyed vocals with pacifying melodies, Gaidaa represents a new generation of soul artists poised to take the world by storm.
Kneecap
What do you get when you cross hip-hop, political satire, and Gaelic? The answer is Kneecap, a newly signed hip-hop trio hailing from Northern Ireland on a mission to bring their culture to wider audiences. The group, which rap mostly in their native language, aim to ignite conversations about Irish history with a swaggering sound, wild energy, and sharp lyricism.
Haley Blais
Canadian indie singer-songwriter Haley Blais oftentimes sings of growing pains. No, not the ones you experienced as a young kid. Rather, the emotional growing pains of being in your twenties. The singerâs stunning, airy vocals are the result of her time as a classically trained opera vocalist, and with her new album Wisecrack, Blais strives to uncover the darker side of coming into adulthood while still maintaining a sense of playfulness in her sound.
Iceland Airwaves hits Reykjavik on November 2nd. Find more information about the festival here.
I’ve never been in a war zone, but as a mother of three, I’ve pictured it. Any time I read a news story about a part of the world that’s exploded into violence, I imagine what it must be like for parentsâespecially those with small childrenâliving through it. How do they explain what’s happening? How do they comfort their kids when they themselves are terrified? How do they shield their children not only from unthinkable atrocity but from fear itself?
Joseph Fasano’s poem “Words Whispered to a Child Under Siege” hits at the heart of those questions in a scenario that has played out countless times throughout human history. The poem’s narrator is a father trying to comfort his child while they hide from soldiers in their house, and the way he makes a game out of it highlights the lengths parents will go to help children feel safe, even when they objectively aren’t.
Fasano shared the poem on social media and it has been shared tens of thousands of time from different accounts. As one page warned, “Prepare your heart before reading.” It’s solid advice, though it’s hard to know how to prepare for it.
The poem reads:
No, we are not going to die.
The sounds you hear
knocking the windows and chipping the paint
from the ceiling, that is a game
the world is playing.
Our task is to crouch in the dark as long as we can
and count the beats of our own hearts.
Good. Like that. Lay your hand
on my heart and I’ll lay mine on yours.
Which one of us wins
is the one who loves the game the most
while it lasts.
Yes, it is going to last.
You can use your ear instead of your hand.
Here, on my heart.
Why is it beating faster? For you. That’s all.
I always wanted you to be born
and so did the world.
No, those aren’t a stranger’s bootsteps in the house.
Fasano wrote in Instagram, “I hope these words do what words can do sometimes.” They did, judging by the comment section:
“Gorgeously gut wrenching poem to read, and difficult to wrap our minds around the idea that this is and has been far too many peopleâs realityâŠIâve been a fan of your poems for a while. You provide the perfect example I can show my students of how art and writing help us maintain our humanity â€ïž“
“Thank you, Mr. Fasano. I have been walking around unable to make sense of anything that is happening in the world and I feel myself shutting down. Your words give voice to everything that I cannot find the words for. Thank you for your poetry. Thank you for sharing.”
“Thank you for this tender and horrifying poem at such a time as this. How necessary your words are.”
Poetry has a way of saying so much in so few words. Here we see a father’s translating his frightened heartbeat and tears of terror into love for his child. We see him calling upon the child’s mother as a way to comfort in an impossible situation. We see him blatantly lyingâ”You’re safe. Those aren’t bootsteps. Those aren’t flames,” all to keep his child from being afraid.
And the fact that this could be any father in any war zone in any place and time is a heartbreaking reminder of our shared humanity.
No matter the conflict or the rationale behind it, innocent people are the primary victims of war and children always pay the biggest price. When tensions and passions run high, we must remember this: Wars don’t break out between average citizens just trying to live their lives in peace. War is a fight between powers, with men in safe rooms ordering less powerful men to take up arms against their fellow human beings. Average citizens don’t want any part of these conflictsâthey just want to take their kids to the park, talk about their days over family dinner and not worry about what games to play with their children if or when the bombs and boots start dropping.
You can find more of Joseph Fasano’s poetry on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and you can pre-order his book, “The Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone,” here.
Weddings are a lot. It doesn’t seem to matter who you are. If you’re in the wedding party or just a guest viewing the festivities, the event can wipe you out. Preparations start well before the big event with picking out outfits, hair, makeup and more. But when you’re little, you have someone else to handle that for you, though it’s all still very tiring.
One tiny flower girl found herself a little too tuckered out to perform her duties. 1-year-old Charlotte Rose only had napping on her mind when it was time for her big moment to sprinkle flower petals down the aisle. Instead of the toddler’s nap being interrupted so she could complete her flower girl duties, her three cousins saved the day by letting her sleep.
In the video, you see the flower bros take over. The three men were supposed to walk behind the toddler during the ceremony as she did her official duties, instead, she snoozed on one of their shoulders as they walked down the aisle. The other two men trailed the one holding Charlotte and threw the flower petals with pizazz after donning their shades.
The moment was magical and adorably sweet while a strings version of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams played in the background. People in the comments also agreed that the entire thing was adorable.
“Her security did a phenomenal job, assisting her,” one person says.
“She didn’t want anyone to feel sad for outshining everyone,” a commenter writes.
“I love that the flower girl is still part of the entourage,” someone gushes.
If someone said, “Name two genres of music on the opposite ends of the spectrum,” heavy metal and classical music would be a logical answer. So when you hear that an AC/DC song being played on classical instruments, it can challenge the brain a bit.
(Some folks may ask, “Is AC/DC really considered heavy metal?” By today’s standards, no. Compared to thrash, black and death metal, definitely not. But AC/DC has been lumped into the heavy metal genre by everyone from MTV to Encyclopedia Britannica, despite co-founder Angus Young saying they were just a rock band. At the very least, they were metal-adjacent, so let’s roll with it.)
“Thunderstruck” is one of those songs people of all ages know at least part of, thanks to its frequent use in movies and television shows. In fact, it’s so ubiquitous that when two cellists transition into it from a classical piece, it’s instantly recognizable.
Of course, the way they headbang and literally shred their cello bows while playing it also helps.
The cellists dressing in period garb and playing for what looks like an audience of Mozart’s creates a delightful contrast in addition to it being in impressive musical performance. There’s a reason the 2Cellos “Thunderstruck” video has been viewed a whopping 260 million times on YouTube.
Watch and enjoy:
People’s reactions since the video debuted in 2014 have ranged from humor to incredulity to admiration for the duo’s mad cello skills:
“I used to be a fan, but after hearing this masterpiece 1000 times, I’m an air conditioner now.”
“When you’re into rock but your parents buy you a cello.”
“Canât believe AC/DC made a cover of a song from the 1700s.”
“These guys are like the ultimate form of being classically trained but the teachers never let them have any fun.”
“As a fellow cellist, the skill you’re witnessing is incredible.”
“As a bass player, it’s incredible how they can play that with so much precision. It is truly incredible, love the music.”
Many people in the comments have shared that they keep coming back to watch this again and again, even years later.
Luka and Hauser, the famous Croatian cellists responsible for this genre-smashing masterpiece, just ended their musical career together in May of 2023. As Total Croatia News reported, “Luka is more of a family man now, with three children and a wife, and Hauser continues to be ambitious, full of ideas and eager to keep going, conquering the world and playing his music everywhere. Having different approaches to life, they thought it was best to take separate paths but will still remain great friends.”
However, you can still enjoy their past performances together on their YouTube channel here.
Weddings are a lot. It doesn’t seem to matter who you are. If you’re in the wedding party or just a guest viewing the festivities, the event can wipe you out. Preparations start well before the big event with picking out outfits, hair, makeup and more. But when you’re little, you have someone else to handle that for you, though it’s all still very tiring.
One tiny flower girl found herself a little too tuckered out to perform her duties. 1-year-old Charlotte Rose only had napping on her mind when it was time for her big moment to sprinkle flower petals down the aisle. Instead of the toddler’s nap being interrupted so she could complete her flower girl duties, her three cousins saved the day by letting her sleep.
In the video, you see the flower bros take over. The three men were supposed to walk behind the toddler during the ceremony as she did her official duties, instead, she snoozed on one of their shoulders as they walked down the aisle. The other two men trailed the one holding Charlotte and threw the flower petals with pizazz after donning their shades.
The moment was magical and adorably sweet while a strings version of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams played in the background. People in the comments also agreed that the entire thing was adorable.
“Her security did a phenomenal job, assisting her,” one person says.
“She didn’t want anyone to feel sad for outshining everyone,” a commenter writes.
“I love that the flower girl is still part of the entourage,” someone gushes.
I’ve never been in a war zone, but as a mother of three, I’ve pictured it. Any time I read a news story about a part of the world that’s exploded into violence, I imagine what it must be like for parentsâespecially those with small childrenâliving through it. How do they explain what’s happening? How do they comfort their kids when they themselves are terrified? How do they shield their children not only from unthinkable atrocity but from fear itself?
Joseph Fasano’s poem “Words Whispered to a Child Under Siege” hits at the heart of those questions in a scenario that has played out countless times throughout human history. The poem’s narrator is a father trying to comfort his child while they hide from soldiers in their house, and the way he makes a game out of it highlights the lengths parents will go to help children feel safe, even when they objectively aren’t.
Fasano shared the poem on social media and it has been shared tens of thousands of time from different accounts. As one page warned, “Prepare your heart before reading.” It’s solid advice, though it’s hard to know how to prepare for it.
The poem reads:
No, we are not going to die.
The sounds you hear
knocking the windows and chipping the paint
from the ceiling, that is a game
the world is playing.
Our task is to crouch in the dark as long as we can
and count the beats of our own hearts.
Good. Like that. Lay your hand
on my heart and I’ll lay mine on yours.
Which one of us wins
is the one who loves the game the most
while it lasts.
Yes, it is going to last.
You can use your ear instead of your hand.
Here, on my heart.
Why is it beating faster? For you. That’s all.
I always wanted you to be born
and so did the world.
No, those aren’t a stranger’s bootsteps in the house.
Fasano wrote in Instagram, “I hope these words do what words can do sometimes.” They did, judging by the comment section:
“Gorgeously gut wrenching poem to read, and difficult to wrap our minds around the idea that this is and has been far too many peopleâs realityâŠIâve been a fan of your poems for a while. You provide the perfect example I can show my students of how art and writing help us maintain our humanity â€ïž“
“Thank you, Mr. Fasano. I have been walking around unable to make sense of anything that is happening in the world and I feel myself shutting down. Your words give voice to everything that I cannot find the words for. Thank you for your poetry. Thank you for sharing.”
“Thank you for this tender and horrifying poem at such a time as this. How necessary your words are.”
Poetry has a way of saying so much in so few words. Here we see a father’s translating his frightened heartbeat and tears of terror into love for his child. We see him calling upon the child’s mother as a way to comfort in an impossible situation. We see him blatantly lyingâ”You’re safe. Those aren’t bootsteps. Those aren’t flames,” all to keep his child from being afraid.
And the fact that this could be any father in any war zone in any place and time is a heartbreaking reminder of our shared humanity.
No matter the conflict or the rationale behind it, innocent people are the primary victims of war and children always pay the biggest price. When tensions and passions run high, we must remember this: Wars don’t break out between average citizens just trying to live their lives in peace. War is a fight between powers, with men in safe rooms ordering less powerful men to take up arms against their fellow human beings. Average citizens don’t want any part of these conflictsâthey just want to take their kids to the park, talk about their days over family dinner and not worry about what games to play with their children if or when the bombs and boots start dropping.
You can find more of Joseph Fasano’s poetry on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and you can pre-order his book, “The Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone,” here.
Fifth-grade teacher Emily E. Smith is not your ordinary teacher.
She founded The Hive Society â a classroom that’s all about inspiring children to learn more about their world … and themselves â by interacting with literature and current events. Students watch TED talks, read Rolling Stone, and analyze infographics. She even has a long-distance running club to encourage students to take care of their minds and bodies.
Smith is such an awesome teacher, in fact, that she recently received the 2015 Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing.
It had always been her dream to work with children in urban areas, so when Smith started teaching, she hit the ground running. She had her students making podcasts, and they had in-depth discussions about their readings on a cozy carpet.
But in her acceptance speech for her award, she made it clear that it took a turning point in her career before she really got it:
“Things changed for me the day when, during a classroom discussion, one of my kids bluntly told me I “couldn’t understand because I was a white lady.” I had to agree with him. I sat there and tried to speak openly about how I could never fully understand and went home and cried, because my children knew about white privilege before I did. The closest I could ever come was empathy.”
Smith knew that just acknowledging her white privilege wasn’t enough.
She wanted to move beyond just empathy and find a way to take some real action that would make a difference for her students.
She kept the same innovative and engaging teaching methods, but she totally revamped her curriculum to include works by people who looked like her students. She also carved out more time to discuss issues that her students were facing, such as xenophobia and racism.
And that effort? Absolutely worth it.
As she said in her acceptance speech:
“We studied the works of Sandra Cisneros, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Gary Soto, with the intertwined Spanish language and Latino culture â so fluent and deep in the memories of my kids that I saw light in their eyes I had never seen before.”
The changes Smith made in her classroom make a whole lot of sense. And they’re easy enough for teachers everywhere to make:
â They studied the work of historical Latino figures, with some of the original Spanish language included. Many children of color are growing up in bilingual households. In 2007, 55.4 million Americans 5 years of age and older spoke a language other than English at home.
â They analyzed the vision of America that great writers of color sought to create. And her students realized that our country still isn’t quite living up to its ideals. Despite progress toward racial equality with the end of laws that enforced slavery or segregation, we still have a long way to go. Black people still fare worse than white people when it comes to things like wealth, unfair arrests, and health.
â They read excerpts from contemporary writers of color, like Ta-Nehisi Coates who writes about race. Her students are reading and learning from a diverse group of writers. No small thing when they live in a society that overwhelmingly gives more attention to white male writers (and where the number of employees of color in the newspaper industry stagnates at a paltry 12%).
â They read about the Syrian crisis, and many students wrote about journeys across the border in their family history for class. The opportunity particularly struck one student; the assignment touched him so much that he cried. He never had a teacher honor the journey his family made. And he was proud of his heritage for the first time ever. “One child cried,” Smith shared, “and told me he never had a teacher who honored the journey his family took to the United States. He told me he was not ashamed anymore, but instead proud of the sacrifice his parents made for him.”
Opportunities like this will only increase as the number of children from immigrant families is steadily increasing. As of 2013, almost 17.4 million children under 18 have at least one immigrant parent.
Smith now identifies not just as an English teacher, but as a social justice teacher.
Smith’s successful shift in her teaching is an example for teachers everywhere, especially as our schools become increasingly ethnically and racially diverse. About 80% of American teachers are white. But as of last year, the majority of K-12 students in public schools are now children of color.
As America’s demographics change, we need to work on creating work that reflects the experiences that our students relate to. And a more diverse curriculum isn’t just important for students of color. It’s vital for everyone.
As Smith put it, “We, the teachers, are responsible for instilling empathy and understanding in the hearts of all kids. We are responsible for the future of this country.”
âThe greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” â Robert Hughes
Great artists tend to live life swimming in a vast ocean of self-doubt. It’s that special blend of insecurity and perfectionism that fuels their desire to hone their craft and get better with each piece.
But that self-doubt can also be paralyzing and prevent potential artists from picking up the pen, paintbrush or guitar.
To encourage his mother to stick with her art, Reddit user Gaddafo shared a picture of his mother, Cindi Decker, a school teacher from Florida, holding a lovely painting she made of an egret.
âMy mom painted this and said no one would like it. It’s her 2nd painting,” he wrote.
Then Reddit user Cacahahadoodoo asked the forum to take the post a step further. âSomeone paint the photo of his mom holding her painting and repost it with the same title for extra extra karma,” they wrote.
Karma is a reward earned for posting popular content on the online forum.
Reddit user u/k__z jumped on the task and painted a picture of Decker holding her painting.
Then lillyofthenight took things a step further by painting a picture of herself holding a painting of u/k__z holding his painting of Decker holding her painting of an egret.
âTook a while and not perfect, but I painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom,” she wrote.
Then seamusywray stepped in with his contribution and things started to get freaky. âI painted the girl who painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom who painted an egret,” he wrote.
This kicked off a chain reaction that’s come to be known âpaintception.”
Decker was shocked by the chain reaction and couldn’t believe she inspired so many people to paint.
âEven though people say, ‘You inspired me to paint,’ I don’t know that it was so much me. I really give credit to the first artist who painted,” she told the CBC. âYou know, I’m not a painter. I’m just somebody who went out and did a little painting thing, so I got lucky to get caught up in all this fun craziness.”
The Killer director told British GQ that he hasnât seen the 1999 film-turned-dorm room poster in 20 years. âAnd I donât want to,â he said. When asked if he has an aversion to watching his own movies, Fincher replied, âNo â yes. Itâs like looking at your grade school pictures, or something. Yeah, I was there.â
Fincher isnât interested in his old work, but he did discuss a film of his that never was, a sequel to World War Z. âWell, it was a little like The Last of Us. Iâm glad that we didnât do what we were doing, because The Last of Us has a lot more real estate to explore the same stuff. In our title sequence, we were going to use the little parasite⊠they used it in their title sequence, and in that wonderful opening with the Dick Cavett, David Frost-style talk show,â he said.
Uproxxâs Mike Ryan calledThe Killer a âbloody, fun, gritty movie about an angry assassin.â If you love da Finchman, youâll want to see it. The Killer plays in select theaters beginning October 27th before hitting Netflix on November 10th.
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